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Wimbledon began on Monday 1 July, one of the four Slam tournaments, the most prestigious and important in tennis, as well as the oldest tennis event in the world. For the first time in history an Italian tennis player begins a Slam as number 1 in the world ranking, given that on 4 June the 22-year-old Jannik Sinner overtook Novak Djokovic in first place in the rankings.
Sinner begins this tournament after a very positive first part of the season, in which he lost only three of the forty-one matches he played and won his first Slam (the Australian Open, in January) and three other tournaments, including the one in Miami which is part of the Masters 1000, the second in importance after the Slams. The last tournament he won was also his first on grass, the same surface on which Wimbledon is played: last week he beat the Polish Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Halle, Germany. Together with Sinner, there will be eight other Italian male and female tennis players: Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Arnaldi, Lorenzo Sonego, Flavio Cobolli, Luciano Darderi, Luca Nardi, Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, Mattia Bellucci, Jasmine Paolini, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Lucia Bronzetti, Martina Trevisan and Sara Errani.
Lorenzo Musetti is also in good form: he has just reached the final of the Queen’s Club Championships, the ATP 500 tournament played on grass in London just before Wimbledon, and the week before he had reached the semi-final in the ATP 250 in Stuttgart. Tennis expert Emanuele Ricciardi in the latest episode of his podcast Slice he said that Musetti «in London confirmed the progress on grass that began last year».
Musetti is 22 years old, and after emerging very young in the last two years he has struggled a bit to confirm expectations and continue his sporting growth. But according to Ricciardi in recent weeks we have seen «the best version of Musetti in a very long time», which could «represent a technical, tactical but also attitudinal path which, if followed with some continuity, could be an important turning point for its evolution.”
Lorenzo Musetti, 22 years old, has won two ATP tournaments in his career, both in 2022 (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
So far, no Italian tennis player has ever won Wimbledon in the singles tournament; only Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci managed it in the doubles in 2014. Matteo Berrettini came very close three years ago, reaching the final and losing 3 sets to 1 against Djokovic. After a long and very complicated period due to injuries, Berrettini seems to have recovered physically, and therefore also technically and mentally. He reached the final of the Stuttgart tournament, losing against the Englishman Jack Draper, and although he does not have great expectations at Wimbledon, if his physical condition allows him to resist in the longer matches (in the men’s Slams you have to win 3 sets out of 5), he could be a difficult opponent for many tennis players, starting with Sinner.
The draw has in fact established that the two could play against each other in the second round. Sinner will play the first round against the German Yannick Hanfmann, number 95 in the world, while Berrettini will face the Hungarian Márton Fucsovics, sixty-ninth in the ranking. If both win, they will play against each other in the next round. It would obviously be a complicated match for Berrettini, given that today Sinner is one of the best tennis players in the world, but also for Sinner himself, who would face a Wimbledon finalist already in the second round.
In general Sinner was not particularly lucky in the draw of the draw, because continuing in the tournament he could play against one of two strong serving tennis players such as Ben Shelton or Nicolás Jarry in the round of 16. In general on all surfaces, but especially on grass and hard courts where the ball bounces less, the serve is a crucial factor. In the quarterfinals, Sinner could then meet Daniil Medvedev, fifth in the world ranking, or Grigor Dimitrov, tenth.
But most importantly, if he were to reach the semifinals, Sinner could find himself up against Carlos Alcaraz; Djokovic is on the other side of the draw, and so a possible match against Sinner would be the final. Two of the three matches Sinner has lost this year were against 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who is considered his main rival and is the reigning Wimbledon champion: last year he beat Djokovic in a final that seemed to be a sort of transition between the old and the new generation of tennis players.
Alcaraz is currently number 3 in the world rankings (number 2 is Djokovic) and has just won Roland Garros, the Paris Slam. He and Sinner are considered the favorites to win Wimbledon, also because it seems that Novak Djokovic is not in top form due mainly to a knee problem. However, grass is generally the surface where there are more surprises, partly because tennis players play it much less, as grass tournaments are few and spread over just over a month. It often happens at Wimbledon that an unexpected player goes far ahead in the tournament: it can be said that it is one of the reasons for Berrettini’s arrival in the final.
In doubles, the Italian tennis players also have hopes of winning the tournament, because the pair formed by Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli is currently one of the best in the world: they have just won the Halle tournament on grass and have reached the final in both Slams played this year, in Australia and France. And Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, who reached the final at Roland Garros, will play together again at Wimbledon. At the same time, Paolini reached the final in Paris in singles, then lost to world number 1 Iga Swiatek but played her best Slam so far. Grass is not the surface that best suits her characteristics, but the women’s tournament at Wimbledon is often even more uncertain, and Paolini has improved a lot lately. In the first round, she will play against the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo.
